Righty ho folks, I've just got around to fitting the "Wings" steel springs for manitous that I scored off ebay a while back for around £30.
I know I'd warned before about using springs in place of elastomers before as you lose all the damping, but I thought I'd ignore my own advice as the Manitou 2's on the Boulder are Solid.
First warning to my head came in the instructions where they tell you to pull out the bolt and fit the "Wings washer and plastic disc". This is nothing more than a shake proof washer and a rubber tap washer. . Alarm bells ringing as not only is that an instruction to bin off the "top out" elastomers, but on a fork with no damping thats a real pogo stick :shock:
ALSO, binning the topout elastomer, and effectively making the bolts 'longer' below the stanchions increases the ride height. . .:roll:
Right on with the fitting, basically its just pop the springs in and do up the bolts. . :? Thats whatthey say. . .Now folks, you MUST NOT ignore the original manitou top washer, as this seats the top bush on the bottom of the stanchion when you push it all together. . .
The elastomers in the old fork hold themselves on the bolt with the grease during assembly. You don't have this option to 'trap' the washer in this case now. I used a very small cable tie around the bolt to stop the washer sliding off, and carefully went about resuming assembly.
IF YOU IGNORE THIS WASHER, the bush will not locate and you will end up with a very flexy fork, a lot of metal to metal contact and your CNC art-fork will eat itself.
For soft forks you have a plastic preload spacer to omit from the kit, and for med and hard forks you're meant to leave this on. Locating the bolt in to this spacer that won't stay on the bolt is the devils own job. . :roll:
I actually kept the top out elastomers in(on the top of the bolts, as per the original installation), and cut down this spacer to keep the ride height constant. . .
. . .and they ride like a pogo stick . . :evil:
Kick back like a bastid.
Basically, if its for a garage queen, if the origanal elastomers are at least keeping the headtube off the floor, use them. . At least a rigid fork doesn't try and kill you. .
I managed to find a stash of 3/4 elastomers, but the 1/2 are still eluding me. If anyone knows ofa stash let me know. I'm willing to buy a BIG stash on behalf of everyone and spread them about the site. lemme know
I know I'd warned before about using springs in place of elastomers before as you lose all the damping, but I thought I'd ignore my own advice as the Manitou 2's on the Boulder are Solid.
First warning to my head came in the instructions where they tell you to pull out the bolt and fit the "Wings washer and plastic disc". This is nothing more than a shake proof washer and a rubber tap washer. . Alarm bells ringing as not only is that an instruction to bin off the "top out" elastomers, but on a fork with no damping thats a real pogo stick :shock:
ALSO, binning the topout elastomer, and effectively making the bolts 'longer' below the stanchions increases the ride height. . .:roll:
Right on with the fitting, basically its just pop the springs in and do up the bolts. . :? Thats whatthey say. . .Now folks, you MUST NOT ignore the original manitou top washer, as this seats the top bush on the bottom of the stanchion when you push it all together. . .
The elastomers in the old fork hold themselves on the bolt with the grease during assembly. You don't have this option to 'trap' the washer in this case now. I used a very small cable tie around the bolt to stop the washer sliding off, and carefully went about resuming assembly.
IF YOU IGNORE THIS WASHER, the bush will not locate and you will end up with a very flexy fork, a lot of metal to metal contact and your CNC art-fork will eat itself.
For soft forks you have a plastic preload spacer to omit from the kit, and for med and hard forks you're meant to leave this on. Locating the bolt in to this spacer that won't stay on the bolt is the devils own job. . :roll:
I actually kept the top out elastomers in(on the top of the bolts, as per the original installation), and cut down this spacer to keep the ride height constant. . .
. . .and they ride like a pogo stick . . :evil:
Kick back like a bastid.
Basically, if its for a garage queen, if the origanal elastomers are at least keeping the headtube off the floor, use them. . At least a rigid fork doesn't try and kill you. .
I managed to find a stash of 3/4 elastomers, but the 1/2 are still eluding me. If anyone knows ofa stash let me know. I'm willing to buy a BIG stash on behalf of everyone and spread them about the site. lemme know
